People are continually performing more financial transactions over communication lines than ever before due, in part, to an increased accessibility of communication devices. For example, people can execute financial transactions involving their financial accounts using personal computers connected to the Internet and/or using a smart phones connected to a mobile wireless network. In addition, a vast amount of consumable items and services are made available for purchase or other consumption in the marketplace, and particularly in electronic marketplaces via the Internet. Often, these consumable items and services can be purchased by securely transferring payment information over the communication lines. This payment method in turn continually reduces a percentage of cash and check transactions in the marketplace. Payments may be made using payment instruments (e.g., credit cards, bank accounts, etc.) that are accessible from one or more financial accounts.
Many merchants, financial institutions, and other businesses save payment and user information for user access at a later point in time. For example, a consumer may make a purchase from a host of an electronic marketplace. During the purchase, the host may allow the consumer to log into or create a financial (user) account. The host may then save payment information, shipping information, and other consumer data for later retrieval by the consumer. In this way the consumer may expedite future purchases by saving payment information and other personal information and avoiding re-entry of this information during a subsequent transaction.
Despite the convenience of these electronic forms of payment, many people have privacy concerns about the accessibility of the personal information and payment information. Most people are reluctant to provide payment information, such as credit card numbers, bank account number, etc., to a non-trustworthy source. Often, people are even reluctant to provide this information to trusted sources that may make the information susceptible to others that are less trust worthy. For example, a parent may be concerned that her child may make unsafe purchases on the Internet with non-trustworthy third parties when given access to his mother's credit card number, and thus expose the mother's credit card to fraudulent activity by the third party.
Despite the widespread accessibility of payment instruments, some people do not have payment instruments while other people possess payment instruments that include restrictions as to purchase amounts, geography (e.g., no international use), and so forth. Some people simply do not qualify for payment instruments, such as credit cards, due to age (e.g., young children), credit history, or for other reasons. Without payment instruments, these people face increased difficulty in performing transactions over communication lines such as the Internet.